Kinky, Freaky Nurses

Get into the mind of a nurse and I’d say the majority are kinky, sexually uninhibited, or like to explore sexually… hell they could even be a closet freak and you have no idea.  Why is that?  Well my opinion on the matter is that nurses (and medical professionals in general) deal with death on a regular basis.  We stare death in the face on a regular basis.  Sometimes death wins and sometimes we give a big middle finger to death and save a life.  With all this death floating around, of course we are cognizant of our own mortality.  And with that knowledge comes that fact that we know we only get one trip around this world (unless you believe in reincarnation) and we want to make the most of it.  We take more risks, we drive a little faster, we have freaky, kinky sex.  Maybe you were a freak before you went to nursing school.  Maybe you became a freak while in nursing school.  Maybe it took a few years after you get out… but I truly think that in death we decide to try to live more.  

FYI – Sex is generally a highly pleasurable activity and we want to get the most out of it… and being nurses and having intimate knowledge of anatomy and physiology doesn’t hurt either ;)

The point of this post is if you are questioning why you like kinkier things then you used to blame nursing.  If you are freak already, then at least now you have something to blame it on… If you have kinky thoughts but are afraid to act on them… know that most of the time with nurses you are in mutual company.  So find a slurse or a murse and turn those thoughts into more than thoughts buried in the deep recesses of your mind.

You’d be amazed of the things that nurses at work have talked about doing or offered to do while at work.. Bad slurses ;)  I could talk about it here but it would go from R rated to X rated relatively quickly, LOL

And if you like “vanilla” sex and think you always will, hell at least enjoy it then.   

Agree?  Disagree?  Voice an opinion? Comment?

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NSNA Convention/ Election

The 60th Annual NSNA Convention is being held April 11-15 in Pittsburgh. One of the important events that takes place at the convention is the election of the Executive Board, the NSNA's governing body. Running for NSNA President this year is Joseph Potts, a nursing student at the University of North Florida and an avid reader of the @MurseWisdom blog. Joseph is a 12 year veteran of the Navy and lives in Jacksonville with his wife Kimberly. If you would like to find out more about Joseph, his campaign, and his vision for the future of nursing you can check out his Facebook and Twitter pages at: https://twitter.com/#!/NSNAJoe  http://www.facebook.com/NSNAJoe

BSN vs ADN

There is a lot of heated debate, especially amongst current Nursing students as to which education produces better Nurses.  BSN or ADN?  So, let's discuss shall we?

Let me begin by just stating that I am an ADN grad and have worked my way up from CNA to LPN to RN.

No matter what kind of Nursing student you talk to they will tell you the same thing.  An ADN student will tell you that Hospitals would rather hire an ADN nurse, especially from his or her program than a BSN student from a near-by and therefore "rival" program.  And a BSN student will tell you the same thing.  Here is a funny touch of Irony, BSN programs better prepare nurses for the type of nursing required in a long term care setting and ADN programs train their nurses for Med-Surg type units and it is usually the opposite when it comes to job placement.  ADN will end up in long term skilled type facilities where as the BSN nurses will flock to hospitals.  I have a friend working at a nursing home that is completely run by ADN nurses.  Not a single nurse has gone beyond the two year mark.  Yet, I met a BSN graduate working as a CNA at a hospital because she hadn't passed the NCLEX yet and since she hadn't gone to a bi-level ADN program she wasn't eligible to take the LPN boards. I was an LPN at the time, in clinicals, telling someone with a BSN that I needed her to do this or that. It was so strange.

Let's try using some simple math to get an answer.  I googled the number of credit hours required to obtain a BSN. I wanted a middle of the road number so I picked Oklahoma City University which, geographically speaking, is pretty well in the middle.  They say it takes 124 credit hours for a BSN.  Any arguments? My college requires 72 hours of Nursing credits in order to graduate.  I graduated with 129 credit hours.  That's just how the system works, between prereqs and liberal arts/humanities electives needed in order to apply, I ended up with 5 more hours than is needed to hold a BSN. So, mathematically it seems to be no different.  (By the way I suck at Math)

(I really hope to get a good discussion going from this blog)

I have talked to nurses that are just straight snobs about their BSN and others that have flat out told me it isn't worth shit, I have friends that have gone on to complete their BSN after ADN.  Me personally I believe we are all just nurses. I mean an RN is an RN is an RN, right? If I go on the get my BSN I don't take another NCLEX, same goes for my Master's level nursing... No new NCLEX.  (However, there is a board certifiaction for Nurse Practitioners if I were to go that route)Those of you in BSN programs... your NCLEX is no harder than mine was and, not to brag, but, I'm sure you won't/didn't do much better on it either.  Surely, its not just a matter of initials after your name, right?

So, BSN students get more class time and more Nursing Theory, whereas ADN students spend their time hands-on in clinicals, labs, simulation, etc...  As far as who is the better nurse... I think we can all agree that that is an individual assessment.  My nursing program didn't make me the nurse I am today, but they did provide me with the essential information I needed to overcome the first big obstacle, which was the NCLEX. 

In my personal opinion, it is better to go through a 2 yr bi-level nursing program.  You can start as a CNA when you start the program. After a year you can test for your LPN and start earning LPN wages and gaining real world experience in nursing. Then after two years (hopefully) you can test for your RN and begin making RN wages and building valuable experience.  Then if you must have a BSN or MSN or ARNP after your name, you can continue your education while working and earning a living.  It may take a little longer than if you just went straight through but you won't be new to nursing when you get your MSN or BSN you'll be a seasoned nurse. 

But what do I know? 

As always, thanks for reading.  Share with your friends, coworkers, and fellow students. And comment! Subscribe! Let me know if I'm pissing you off or hitting the nail on the head.

Send me pictures of your study group or friends doing something vaguely nursing and I might feature it on the Blog. Please don't violate HIPAA. 

Follow me @MurseWisdom on twitter

And special thanks to co-author @That1Murse and to @bigwesyall for his continued support


@MurseWisdom

Mursing School by @TMFS786

One of the few things I feel like I have the experience to speak from authority about is nursing school. I just graduated so obviously I'm an expert. There is a lot I read on twitter and facebook about and I think some things need cleared up for those of you that are still inside or maybe this will just be funny to the people who made it through and are looking back.

Stop worrying so much! My friends will laugh about that because I was pretty much a constant wreck because I never felt like I was doing well enough. I somehow yoked myself with this feeling of my entire life was riding on how well I did on the next test. If I passed and didn't do great I still felt like a failure. Well the truth is I did fine. I passed without any real worries, except maybe family nursing that was close, but really I was not in trouble. We were told we were already above average students so maybe when things went from easy to mildly difficult I didn't know what to do. Maybe I just became an asshole, that is still a debate, either way I got worked up over nothing and you probably are too. You need to focus on what you need to learn that week and move on. Trust me in your first year of nursing you are going to feel like you learned little to nothing. So all the little details you forced into your brain (mine was aplastic anemia) will mean almost the same as your ability to speak Sanskrit. You are going to learn a lot of details and the teachers are doing their job, but honestly the majority of that is just stuff you have to learn. A hoop that has to be jumped through, the same one those before you and those after you will have to jump through. The broad strokes are the things I have used the most as a new nurse not stuff like the Parkland-Baxter formula. Not that it matters you will have the deer in the headlights look a minimum of six months on your first job anyways.

Have a support group, and make sure they mean it. I was lucky; I have a wonderful girlfriend who is also in the health field so she understands my anger. My friends are good friends and supported me. I highly suggest you pick people to surround yourself in school for all the basics: Studying, travel, test preparation, and people you can trust to vent to when you feel like you have reached your limit. Nothing will ruin your day like traveling for an hour and a half to clinicals with someone that causes arguments in your group. I guarantee you will loathe your life in a hurry if that is your situation. I had a situation where we couldn't even talk in the car after a few weeks or it was an inevitable fight. Trust me when I say that made a long day even longer. You can't avoid all the arguments, we are human stuff is going to happen but someone with similar views and thoughts can go a long way. Just as important is having a support group outside of class. Pick people in nursing, out of nursing it doesn't matter. Make sure they are people you can talk to that see things from an entirely different point of view and use their advice it will come in handy all the time. I have friends that are nurses and cops, both way removed from class. They were there to balance me and keep me on track when my classmates were just as stressed as I was.

Have an outside life. I know we study a lot, I get it. You aren't going to tell me anything that I don't already know about school and tests. No you aren't different and IT IS the same for me as it was for you. You have got to do something un-school related while in the program. You will go crazy if you don't. Besides you can't study all the time you just cant after a while all the words will just run together and be a blur. Go to the bar, take a day off and go the movies it don't matter but stay away from the books every once in a while to put things in perspective. You can only retain so much information at once anyways don't waste your time beating yourself up over something you won't remember anyhow. When you really want to go out for a few hours with your friends, then do it and don't look back and think about the studying. If you make a decision stick with it and move forward. It's a skill you will have to master when you get onto the floor and they expect you to be in charge of people's lives, start practicing now.

Not all of you are going to make it. That's the breaks and it's the truth. If it was easy everyone would be a nurse and we wouldn't be as necessary. Embrace that truth and realize you are a cut above. You are going to be special and make an impact on people who need you the most. That's why it is tough and you have to go through it. If you want it bad enough, you will do it. I had moments of doubt like everyone else. The difference is we that graduated are willing to pay the price to have what we want, if you aren't then maybe you need to find something else. A lot of people can help and give advice, I know I am and so are most of the murses I know, but you have to use it.

Written by @TMFS786

Know Your Role

I think it’s important in nursing and life in general to know your role and know your qualities.  Are you are leader or a follower?  A critical thinker?  Someone who just wants to get by and draw a check?

I think the lack of knowing this beforehand can contribute to nurse burnout and people with Nursing Degrees working in banks or not working at all.  There are some jobs based on your qualities that may not work well for you.  For example, if you are going to work in a nursing home or an inpatient rehab your leadership qualities will probably be for naught.. and from the time I worked there the most critical thinking that I did was making sure I didn’t give Gertrude the medicine for Olive.  (Now I’m not knocking nursing home nursing, just saying that if you are a person that wants to grab life my the balls and drag it down… nursing home nursing…probably not for you)

I’ve always seen myself as a leader.  I think this is why I gravitated toward ER nursing or critical care nursing in general.  I knew that when the shit hits the fan, I would have to potentially take control of a situation.  We’ve worked multiple MIs, multiple GSWs, and this with one doc in the ER.  I’ve had the doc approach me ask me to assess a chest pain and decide if it’s legit or not.  

I think this is also why I’ve decided to pursue my Nurse Practitioner.  I want to be the guy in charge.  I want to be the giver of the orders not the taker of the orders.  But I know that’s a quality of mine.

What I think you should do, it take a few moments assess the type of person that you are and learn what qualities make you up?  It will pay off and hopefully make nursing a more enjoyable experience.

And as always, follow me @That1Murse and my blog co-author @MurseWisdom.  Feel free to post questions, comments, bitches, whines, moans, groans, and complaints.

Special shoutouts: 

            @BigWesYall and his website www.weshelton.com  - Thanks for the link to our blog.

@jorrrrd_ (Jordan) and her class at LCCC.  Thanks for posting a link on your FB group page.  Enjoy the read.

The Last Straw by TMFS786

By far the most asked question I am asked is why would I choose to go from police officer to nurse? It's a legitimate question, because some people have see NYPD blue and think we get to throw people around and why would anyone want to leave that. The truth is a series of events in stories that are way to long to put into one blog. I have been able to isolate what may be the three biggest facets of my decision: 1) the justice system sucks, 2) aspects of the jobs themselves, and 3) specific events that happened as a police officer. Before we go any further I think it should be said that I love being a police officer (I still do it part-time) and the officers are great people. Nothing said should be seen as a reflection of the people wearing the uniform and doing their job.

The justice system is broken. I hear a lot of complaints about the health care system and everything that is wrong with it. Well, it looks like a diamond shinning in the sun compared to the justice system. Health care is flawed and I doubt there is a good way to fix it that will satisfy everyone. The justice system just seems to be screwing over most people involved with it. Health care still essentially does it job. If you are sick, most likely, you will be fixed. Yes, there are tragic stories of insurance companies turning down people that need an operation or procedure. Do I feel for those people, of course I do and it sucks. The difference is those are isolated scenarios that need fixed. The justice system has a systemic infection that can't be corrected easily. The joke is lawyers are to blame and in essence that's not a joke. It is heart breaking to stand in court and the suspect say he is guilty and the judge tell him to reverse his plea, because he may be able to get a better deal. Especially when you have put in back breaking hours and manpower into finding a thief, then you have to go to court and then that happens. Afterwards the family inevitably blames the police even though they know we arrested them. When I take care of a patient they get better or they get worse. I get to see it and I can deal with that, but to have a win taken because a judge doesn't care is just heartbreaking. Defense attorneys are another breed of slime that's hard to deal with on a daily basis. They are doing their jobs…blah, blah, blah. A person that can defend another person who admits to molesting children by trying to insinuate that the police officers were wrong is pretty disgusting. Imagine a person that just stood in a room and every time you went to start an IV moved the persons arm.

People hate cops. It's a fact of life any police officer will likely tell you depending on how much complaining he wants to deal with after they are honest. People want us out busting crime, enforcing traffic laws and making society safe. That is until we start asking them questions then we are nothing but worthless and harassing someone. It always has to be that they are black or a woman or they drive an expensive car. Nobody has ever said “I realize you stopped me because I match the description of the person robbing houses and I happened to drop my wallet in their house” or “I know I was in the wrong going fifteen miles over the speed limit.” In the end it's always our fault that they did something wrong. A nurse is seen as something in society that represents what people aspire to be. We are trusted and thought of as capable by the public. I want to do my job and do it the best as I can without people hating me for doing it. Another officer and I responded to a child drowning. It was at a house party and accidents happen. The officer and I arrived to find the girl and began doing life saving measures and actually got the young lady to begin breathing again even it wasn't pretty. The party however never stopped and I yelled for the music to be turned down and people to step back, because silly me I wanted to let EMS know what was going on and to have room to work. After the incident several family members came up to me and demanded an apology. I wasn't expecting a thank you, but I certainly didn't see this coming. They said it was obvious since I was the only white person there that the reason I yelled for the music to be turned down was because it was rap music and I was racist. It never occurred to them I guess that I wanted to relay information to the paramedics who were on their way to get the daughter. That was a hell of a way to end that call. The other day, working as a nurse, a parent thanked me profusely for saving their kids life, even after I told them repeatedly that I only helped and I really didn't do that much. That everyone else around me had done much more. It's hard to argue with an appreciative mother with tears in her eyes. That is another reason to leave being a cop and become a nurse. Not only was I thanked, but I was thanked for just being there.

I have been in way worse situations as a police officer then I will ever be as a nurse. That doesn't mean there isn't stress, there is a ton of stress as a nurse, but it's not the same in the field when you are involved in the action. One of the boring but safe reasons for being a nurse over a cop is there is dramatic drop in the safety of being at work. Never has a room burst into flames while passing meds. Nobody has pulled a gun on me while adjusting them in bed. I have seen a lot of things that have made me different than I was before them. Some things can not be unseen or changed in your memory no matter what you do. Trust me I tried and tried. I don't know how I became so unlucky but I had a habit of being at the wrong place, at the wrong time, a lot as a police officer. Over time these incidents wore on me and they still place a weight on my shoulders. It is expected and it hasn't inhibited me in any real sense of measure. A lot of times I am asked essentially “what straw broke the camel's back?” A story that I will keep brief and I have been told may be too graphic for many is the answer. A structure fire was reported and then it was dispatched that children may be in the house. If I had drove to that house any faster I would have went back in time. I had been in some tough situations before, but anything involving kids always seems to hit harder. The house was hot…real hot when we arrived and I knew it was going to be bad. The flames had busted out the front and sides of the house and were extending pretty far into the air. It's something I don't know if I can explain with a thermometer but looked like something out of a movie. I just didn't think it could be real. Eventually we were able to get one child out of the house and into the hands of paramedics who took the child away. One was still reported in the house. I screamed and inhaled black smoke at an alarming rate something I am sure my lungs will repay me for in the future. In the end we got the other one out but it wasn't enough. At the hospital helping the coroner, I saw all the nurses standing there. They were upset but they had done everything possible to help both children which was way more than I had felt I had done. I was envious of the feeling of being able to help and I wanted to feel it more than anything else I could imagine. Hopelessness is the absolute worst feeling in the world. So I made the decision pretty much right then and there. As nurses we affect lives directly and indirectly and we do so from the moment we clock in till the moment we clock out. I am proud to be a police officer and I would never trade this time for anything, but I look forward to the time spent helping others and maybe someday someone will remember that one murse that helped them.

Dealing with Grouchy Nurses

So several people have requested that I write about how to deal with grouchy nurses… and some of this is not going to be cheerful news.  First things first, you are going to deal with bitchy people in any profession… There are bitches in nursing, bitch doctors, bitch lawyers, bitch mechanics… hell even bitches in the Burger King.  The idea is to learn how to handle the situation appropriately so that you remain sane and don’t become the bitch yourself. 

If you are a nursing student and the nurses on the floor are being grouchy… sorry but it’s best to keep your mouth shut, keep your head down and survive the day.  If you butt heads with a nurse on the floor as a student… you will lose every time.  Every clinical day should be a job interview because you never know if you will be colleagues with these people and if you snap on the floor you will get blackballed in that department… hell maybe even the whole facility.

If you are a new nurse, you need to do a few things to deal with the grouches.

• ·         Realize that nurses eat their young.. It’s not pleasant but it’s true.  Put yourself in their position. As they get older or grouchy, they figure their days are going to be numbered.. so to them they see you as the replacement (and they have to train you). In their clouded sense of judgment, if they run you off they won’t be replaced.

• ·         Learn how to deal with that specific grouch. 

o   Some of them are dealing with problems at home or general unhappiness.  If that’s the case either it will get better eventually or they will stay a grouch and you either try to friend them.. or avoid them.

o   Some may be grouchy, but only at work.  These are those grouches that are horrible to work with, but when you go hang out away from work they are fun, relaxed, and a joy to be around.  These nurses typically have been “the bitch” for so long they feel obligated to live up to that role.  Nurse Ratched is a bitch… but Becky is fun to hang out with.  Once you figure out this type, the grouchiness at work won’t bother you near as much.

o   Last common type is those nurses that are trying to push your buttons.  They want to push you to see how far you’ll go and to test you.  My dealing with this type of grouch was about 3 months into my time of working there.  I worked the night shift and this nurse came in and without asking about my night she immediately started complaining about me not stocking.  Finally being pushed far enough, I stood up and yelled that if she’d like I’d stay after my fucking shift and stock the ER.  From the point that I stood up to her, we never had another problem.  She wanted to push me to see if I would stand up to it and once I did, we were fine.

• ·         Don’t take it personal.  Do you think they woke up and said.. hmmm I’m gonna be a bitch to Debbie today?   If that’s happening or you’re thinking it’s happening, then those issues go deeper than this blog.  Don’t let their shitty attitude get you down.  There is enough stuff in nursing that can get you down, depressed, or become cynical… don’t let one shitty attitude be the downfall to your day. 

·         Find the positives in your day.  The patient smile, the thank you’s, the pimpin murse, the slurse that you can tell is wearing a thong, the free drink in the cafeteria cause the cashier sensed your bad day, getting an IV on the first stick, or realizing…..shit you’re getting paid for this now. 

Couldn’t end this on a negative note and didn’t want you think I hate nursing.  I love it….. there are times it sucks. But the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Lastly, shoutout and huge thanks to @weshelton for featuring our blog on his website, www.weshelton.com, check it out (We are listed on the partners page http://www.weshelton.com/partner/) .  Dude is a multitasking fool… looking over his site, I think he’s doing a little bit of everything.

And as always gotta do a shameless plug.  Follow me @that1murse and my buddy @mursewisdom

@That1Murse