Thursday, February 16, 2006

Certifiably Certifiable

She's baaaaack!

It's Beulah France, RN! Of New York!

The a nurse who made a career out of fondling toilet tissue.

The first nurse with an endorsement contract.

Now she is speaking to parents and teachers about the importance of toilet tissue to health.

Apparently it was no longer appropriate to use one's hands now that toilet tissue had been invented.

I'm trying to be delicate here.

Which is exactly the point!

If your toilet tissue is too rough it can irritate tender nether region areas.

Who wants to wipe with wood chips?


hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh


Why am I blogging?

I don't mean that in a philosophical sense, I mean why am I blogging at 0133 am when I have a twenty-three page ACLS study guide sitting here on the end table.

And the class is Friday. And it's only a recert class so I have to actually be prepared when I get there.

At least I was able to download the study packet.

Only to discover I have the same book that I just purchased.

They sure grabbed us by the gonads when they made certification mandatory. I paid about $150 for a five hour class. At least this company also gives you a BLS card, too.

And then somewhere along the line I realized that every four years my BLS, ACLS, PALS, TNCC and NRP are all due within two months of each other.

BLS and ACLS are pretty self explanatory.

PALS (Pediatric Life Support) is also required by my facility, but it should be required at EVERY facility. You would be surprised at the number of ER nurses who are not comfortable taking care of kids with anything more than a virus. I'm not putting them down, it's just not an area they are comfortable in. The newborns with temps of 101. The tripoding, drooling epiglottitis patient (thank God I have yet to see that). The lethargic two-year-old that should be screaming at everything you do, yet lays there and just takes it. The croup patient who is retracting to the point that his supraclavicular area is tapping his scapula. The sick ones.

(Just a note: I had a doctor once tell me to never describe a pedi patient as "lethargic" in a chart, but to simply describe the behavior witnessed. Apparently "lethargic" is a trigger word when it comes to lawsuits. But that is true of most of nursing charting: you describe what you see, you do not label it - for the most part).

TNCC (Trauma Nurse Core Curriculum) is not required for employment at my facility, but stabbings and gunshot wounds don't always come in by ambulance. Sometimes they ar courteous enough to walk through the entry portal. Or as I've noted before, they can be in an MVA and three weeks later their spleen blows up. Trauma patients....they can sneak up on you like Dracula on a carotid. And lose just as much blood!

NRP (Neonatal Resuscitation) is also not required, but you never know when the only thing standing between you and a crowning head is....well....YOU!

Like the time a particularly assertive newborn pushed aside his mother's Victoria's Secret maternity undies and plopped on the floor. In the ER.

Or the time I stood there with a hand in a sterile glove watching the curly black hair of another little boy just one contraction short of landing in my hand. Oh, I had plenty of helpers, but they were all standing five feet behind me because, as the actress Butterfly McQueen so succinctly put it in that grand movie so very long ago: they "did'n know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies!"

Hell, neither did I. I just figured that millions of babies have been born and this one would be unique because it was my hand that guided the head. I looked as cool as a cucumber and felt as calm as if I had an amp of adrenaline shot in my derriere. At the last minute the doc delivered the baby. It took me sitting down 20 minutes before my legs stopped shaking.

Hence, my wish to have NRP under my belt.

Alas, I am rambling. It is now 0206. I must study for my ACLS. I paid good money for it, I want my card!

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Oh, and for those of you who watch "American Idol" I have two things to say : (1) If I wasn't married, I would run off with Simon Cowell in a New York minute and (2) I have already picked the final twelve AND the winner of the contest so you can all save your votes and just enjoy the show. Thank you.




10 Comments:

At 2/16/2006 05:56:00 AM, Blogger John Cowart said...

You'd rather blog than study. I'd rather blog than work. I need some self discipline this morning. Our oldest daughter is a nurse also and she studies for these certifications all the time too.

 
At 2/16/2006 08:47:00 AM, Blogger annabkrr said...

I love Simon too, I find him SOOOOOO hot! I need BCLS and ACLS too. I let them both expire while I took some time off work, and now I can't go back.

 
At 2/16/2006 08:48:00 AM, Blogger Fat Doctor said...

1) Blogging is more fun that ACLS, ATLS, PALS, NRP and ALSO all rolled up together.

2) American Idol is more fun than blogging.

3) Blogging about American Idol would be a fantasy come true, but I'm not sure I can really put my feelings into words just yet...

Love ya, babe!

 
At 2/16/2006 01:06:00 PM, Blogger kenju said...

I want to birth some babies too! I just don't want to be a doula to do it.

Who did you pick for AI - fess up!!?? Simon acts almost human now and then. I loved it when he kissed Meretricia - or whatever her name is....LOL

 
At 2/16/2006 01:19:00 PM, Blogger Kim said...

I don't know the names yet, I can only describe them. Let me get the names and then I will list them.

The winner will be the 16-year-old female whose grandmother was a famous gospel singer. Of that I am sure.

However, I liked "Joe Cocker Man", "Ace the rocker", "the nerd" the heavy woman who gave Simon exactly what he needed to hear, the bald guy with the cute blond wife back home who sang a Bee Gees song during Hollywood week, the cute guy with beak nose (Ever since Steve Perry, I'm a goner over noses),
the guy who said you had to have "IT" to be an American Idol, the "Donny Osmond"-like guy, and the girl with the waterproof mascara.

I may have left out 2 girls whose descriptions I have forgotten.

Not too impressed with the gals this time.

 
At 2/16/2006 07:13:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

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At 2/16/2006 08:25:00 PM, Blogger Jo said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At 2/16/2006 08:28:00 PM, Blogger Jo said...

Can't spell tonight so I've replaced my post.
Ah, have to disagree with you this time Kim. The winner of AI won't be that girl with gospel granny.
It WILL be one of those guys you mentioned above. I'm rooting for the bald one with the rocker voice.;)

 
At 2/17/2006 01:56:00 AM, Blogger Kim said...

Garry - great site, thanks for the link!

 
At 12/01/2023 11:09:00 PM, Anonymous Dont Scratch the Walls said...

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