Any health care professionals out there?

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Cacaman

Cacaman

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Hi, I'm currently a senior at my university, and will be graduating to be an RN-BSN in May. I sometimes feel tempted to use medical lingo, but forget I'm not with my geeky crowd (same applies to them when I want to use homebrew terms).

Anyways, anyone else out there also work in the medical field? Physicians, Nurses, Therapists, Pharmacists etc. or even anyone who simply works at a hospital? Or am I alone out here? :fro:
 
You are far from alone. Congratulations on your BSN. I'm an RN working in NY. There's a thread on here about occupations and quite a few were engineers, but healthcare was also represented :)
 
CrimsonBrew said:
I currently work at a hospital in MO. Lab tech assistant.
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Nice! You shouldn't have trouble getting your water report then! :p

AB-Brew said:
You are far from alone. Congratulations on your BSN. I'm an RN working in NY. There's a thread on here about occupations and quite a few were engineers, but healthcare was also represented :)
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Thanks! I'd figure lots of homebrewers would be chemists and engineers, but good to know there's other RN's out here.
 
RN-BSN at the local hospital in the OR. Worked step down ICU for just shy of 2 years then switched it up.

Congrats on your BSN!
 
mccumath said:
RN-BSN at the local hospital in the OR. Worked step down ICU for just shy of 2 years then switched it up.

Congrats on your BSN!
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Thanks, what are you liking more, the OR or ICU? Im thinking of doing either ER or OR if they take me in. I want to stay away from med surg.
 
At our hospital Med-Surg was easy going and slow, but it's where all the cranky, catty nurses were.

OR was like it's own world, you stayed away from them.

ICU was like med surg without the crankyness.

ER was where the young, pretty, fun nurses were lol.
 
I like the OR best so far. As mentioned, it really is its own little world. Lots to know as far as equipment and such, but you dont use the skills that you learn in other departments. I never cared so much for the rush involved in critical emergencies, codes, etc. I like things to go smooth! ER would be fun but not the place for me. Work the floor for a bit, get your assessment skills down, learn your facility, and you can go anywhere you want!

My stepdown ICU experience was invaluable to where I am at now. I would do everything the same way i have already if given the chance. Open heart patients were always sketchy but fun to take care of (especially 8-10 hours post op). Chest tubes, central lines, pacer wires, fun stuff!
 
nukinfuts29 said:
At our hospital Med-Surg was easy going and slow, but it's where all the cranky, catty nurses were.

OR was like it's own world, you stayed away from them.

ICU was like med surg without the crankyness.

ER was where the young, pretty, fun nurses were lol.
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That's exactly why I was looking into ER. Lol, seriously speaking though, during my ER rotations, the care was fast paced and nobody dealt with any cranky families, probably because of the fear of what had just happened.

All else aside, my instructors all tell me to start with med surg to develop my skills, but from what I've seen in my rotations, I'm not actually sure I would "enjoy" my job.
 
In your area, do you have choices as far as facilities? At our facility, we have 3 different units. A surgical, medical, and CCU (cardiac care/ICU step down unit). I worked in the CCU, because I REALLY did not want to work Med Surg. Some of the patients were medical, but they were a little more critical. Helps you work on your skills a little faster.

Look into that, or other areas where they have other choices. Personally, I would never work a Med Surg floor. But that is just me.

Ryan M.
 
>>nobody dealt with any cranky families

This won't always be the case. The ER can be the most emotional and dangerous part of the ER and most security departments are based out of the ER. The ER not only has the families, but generally is the dumping grounds for the police with drunk people, irate prisoners, mental patients, etc etc etc.
 
nukinfuts29 said:
>>nobody dealt with any cranky families

This won't always be the case. The ER can be the most emotional and dangerous part of the ER and most security departments are based out of the ER. The ER not only has the families, but generally is the dumping grounds for the police with drunk people, irate prisoners, mental patients, etc etc etc.
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Yep, exactly. The E.R. and the ICU are the two most dangerous places in the hospital. Now, when I say dangerous, I don't mean watch your back every second, but these are the two places that are most likely to have dangerous/high anxiety/stressful situations.
 
I was an EMT, then a paramedic, and then a respiratory therapist. About 15 years ago, I got tired of 12 hour shifts on Christmas and mandatory overtime so I jumped into office work.

I retired in January from the same hospital after nearly 28 years, but have been re-hired as a casual employee. I just got home from work, actually, just now. I'm filling in in the hospital's business offices in several locations. It's not as much fun as working the floor, but it sure is easier on my body! I still fill in for our Home Health division, Lifeline, our Wellness Center (monitored exercise program), admitting, and other business offices. I miss working as a paramedic in many ways- but not enough to keep doing it!
 
Awesome Yooper!

I went through an EMT-B course, thought about paramedic school, and then decided to jump straight to nursing school due to the opportunities available, so I kinda missed the opportunity to get to see the real action! I bet you have some pretty fun stories, I know all of the EMT's/Firefighters that I talk to always have something super crazy. Most of my crazy stories involve naked people running in the hallways with only a cowboy hat on, or post-op open heart patients coding during their morning ambulation, or the lady that took a crap in the stairwell because she "felt like it". Fun stuff! Now in the OR its all about traumas and what you pull out of where...

EMT-B was a fun course, I would take it again just for the fun of it!

Ryan M.
 
mccumath said:
Yep, exactly. The E.R. and the ICU are the two most dangerous places in the hospital. Now, when I say dangerous, I don't mean watch your back every second, but these are the two places that are most likely to have dangerous/high anxiety/stressful situations.
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This is true. My rotations were all in the morning, and most incidents were about children getting hurt or allergic reactions. My brother actually works in the ER, but night shift, and he tells me that this is where they get all the bar fights and gun shot patients go. Needless to say, they usually get transferred quickly to a unit or out of town depending on the condition.

Now you were mentioning other units like step down ICU or cardiac. In my 250k population city, we don't have much of that. Its mostly med surg, , ER, OR, ICU, pedi, OB etc. Any renal, cardiac etc. patients get sent to med surg. They have certain med surg floors where they deal with cardiac patients, but its not a dedicated floor per se. So it'll be a normal med surg floor with 7-9 patients, 2 or 3 of them being specialty patients.

I was considering moving 3 hours north, to Austin Texas, where there are a lot more options available, and a nice LHBS! The only problem with that is that everyone in Texas wants to be in Austin. :confused:
 
Yooper said:
I was an EMT, then a paramedic, and then a respiratory therapist. About 15 years ago, I got tired of 12 hour shifts on Christmas and mandatory overtime so I jumped into office work.

I retired in January from the same hospital after nearly 28 years, but have been re-hired as a casual employee. I just got home from work, actually, just now. I'm filling in in the hospital's business offices in several locations. It's not as much fun as working the floor, but it sure is easier on my body! I still fill in for our Home Health division, Lifeline, our Wellness Center (monitored exercise program), admitting, and other business offices. I miss working as a paramedic in many ways- but not enough to keep doing it!
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WOW Yooper! I never knew you did medical work. Funny story, I actually applied with the local fire department 2 weeks ago. I take my written test December 9, and the physical a week or two after that. I wouldn't mind being a fire fighter reaping off government benefits, with part time RN pay :rockin:

Nice to know!
 
I see. I work in what could probably be considered a rural hopsital (i.e. service an area that is huge, but only about 70-100K, depending on how far out you go). We are a trauma II center, and deal with some of the same issues, just not in great concentration. We see a lot of animal attacks from Yellowstone National Park, head trauma patients from all the outdoor activities in the area, and agricultural injuries mostly.

I would suggest Med-Surg as a start in your area then, as it is important to gain/increase your skills before moving on. I think it helps you become a well-rounded RN that is capable of moving into any type of specialty. Sucks, but you don't have to be in it for too long! RN school doesn't prepare you at all for the real world!

Ryan M.
 
mccumath said:
I see. I work in what could probably be considered a rural hopsital (i.e. service an area that is huge, but only about 70-100K, depending on how far out you go). We are a trauma II center, and deal with some of the same issues, just not in great concentration. We see a lot of animal attacks from Yellowstone National Park, head trauma patients from all the outdoor activities in the area, and agricultural injuries mostly.

I would suggest Med-Surg as a start in your area then, as it is important to gain/increase your skills before moving on. I think it helps you become a well-rounded RN that is capable of moving into any type of specialty. Sucks, but you don't have to be in it for too long! RN school doesn't prepare you at all for the real world!

Ryan M.
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I couldn't agree more. If they accept me at Austin Tx, I would definitely bite the bullet and move in a heartbeat in whatever unit or floor I would get hired. I guess my only beef is staying here in my town, and doing the dirty work. We can't always be spoiled now can we? :ban:
 
Nah... I wish I could be spoiled, as I hate working nights. Guess where I am going here in the next few hours... WORK! (they told me when I signed on to the OR that I would not have to work nights - that fell through quick...).

Anyways, there is a song that comes to mind... "you can't always get what you waaaaannnttt!"

Ryan M.
 
Night shift in the ER is rough because of the crazy people that wander and the drunk people that fight. Jails almost never accept someone that is not 100% sober without a quick ok from the local ER. Liability and all that.
 
nukinfuts29 said:
Night shift in the ER is rough because of the crazy people that wander and the drunk people that fight. Jails almost never accept someone that is not 100% sober without a quick ok from the local ER. Liability and all that.
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But that's why we have trained, reliable security at the hospital, right nukinfuts? :D
 
mccumath said:
Awesome Yooper!

I went through an EMT-B course, thought about paramedic school, and then decided to jump straight to nursing school due to the opportunities available, so I kinda missed the opportunity to get to see the real action! I bet you have some pretty fun stories, I know all of the EMT's/Firefighters that I talk to always have something super crazy. Most of my crazy stories involve naked people running in the hallways with only a cowboy hat on, or post-op open heart patients coding during their morning ambulation, or the lady that took a crap in the stairwell because she "felt like it". Fun stuff! Now in the OR its all about traumas and what you pull out of where...

EMT-B was a fun course, I would take it again just for the fun of it!

Ryan M.
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Oh, there are millions of stories! From a stand-by call for a stash of TNT, to sad stores like a kid buried in a gravel pit when he rode his bike up the side and we had to wait for a back hoe to dig him out before we could attempt to resusitate him. I've had weapons pulled on me, made great friends, helped a few people, and taught quite a few classes as an instructor. It's been a great time overall, and I would highly recommend a firefighter/paramedic career to anybody who likes excitement! I never became a firefighter, but worked closely with them.

I was just talking tonight to one of my first partners. She's newly retired also, but has come back to work as the head of the EMS department until they hire someone. We were first partners in 1983, but it doesn't seem that long ago really.
 
mccumath said:
Nah... I wish I could be spoiled, as I hate working nights. Guess where I am going here in the next few hours... WORK! (they told me when I signed on to the OR that I would not have to work nights - that fell through quick...).

Anyways, there is a song that comes to mind... "you can't always get what you waaaaannnttt!"

Ryan M.
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What's your OR schedule like? I figure you would only work days since I KNOW most surgeons don't want to do nights (at least the ones here). The only reason why I thought you all would do nights would be if you're on call?
 
Cacaman said:
But that's why we have trained, reliable security at the hospital, right nukinfuts? :D
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I can't speak to qualified at most places....or trained and reliable.....hmm LOL

Security never gets tired of the drunk naked guys wandering and peeing on them.
 
Yeah,

I don't work nights too often, but it seems we usually have to bring somebody up to stitch them after a bar fight of some kind. Usually later in the week, typically payday Fridays. Fun times!

Ryan M.
 
Currently working as a Respiratory Therapist at a smaller hospital just west of Indianapolis. Learned my trade in the Army and worked in HI for 6 yrs, before that I was doing Military Intelligence work.

Agree with the others that most of the excitement is in the ER or ICU, but there can also be some good stuff that happens on the other floors.
 
My schedule rotates. We have a huge staff load for the days 7-3, a couple staff members 3-11, then a night RN and a night CST. We have to have an in house team at all times due to our level II trauma status. Then we have a call team to backup the in house folks if there are multiple traumas. Yeah, I wish I could just be on night call, but our facility doesn't have that option. Oh well, all good. Pays the bills, allows me to brew, life is good!
 
GTaylor said:
Currently working as a Respiratory Therapist at a smaller hospital just west of Indianapolis. Learned my trade in the Army and worked in HI for 6 yrs, before that I was doing Military Intelligence work.

Agree with the others that most of the excitement is in the ER or ICU, but there can also be some good stuff that happens on the other floors.
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Awesome! Some of my best friends are actually RT's. Real nice helpful folks. I thought about going into that, but the scholarship offer was too good to refuse. Worked out well, I like what I'm going into.

mccumath said:
My schedule rotates. We have a huge staff load for the days 7-3, a couple staff members 3-11, then a night RN and a night CST. We have to have an in house team at all times due to our level II trauma status. Then we have a call team to backup the in house folks if there are multiple traumas. Yeah, I wish I could just be on night call, but our facility doesn't have that option. Oh well, all good. Pays the bills, allows me to brew, life is good!
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Amen brother!
 
GTaylor said:
Currently working as a Respiratory Therapist at a smaller hospital just west of Indianapolis. Learned my trade in the Army and worked in HI for 6 yrs, before that I was doing Military Intelligence work.

Agree with the others that most of the excitement is in the ER or ICU, but there can also be some good stuff that happens on the other floors.
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You mean like when the ER gets tired of the nutjob and admits him to med surg or icu...hahaha
 
My favorite is when ER holds onto those patients until shift change, then dump them off to the floor. The ER shift change and the floor shift change were the same in most instances, and therefore the floor nurses had to admit a patient at shift change, which is super time consuming and frustrating after a 12 hour shift...
 
Our hospital had a real problem with certain nurses and doctors admitting the hard cases to try and make a difference. We had a floor supervisor that did not have that crap, i can't tell you how many times she called me to take someone out.
 
nukinfuts29 said:
You mean like when the ER gets tired of the nutjob and admits him to med surg or icu...hahaha
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Or it could be the post op patients that get over medicated and then somebody panics and pushes the code blue button, nothing like running across the hospital in the middle of the night for someone that needs narcan.
 
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