I was just perusing some design blogs and came across this.

Apparently my new blog redesign is “3 columns of idiocy.” You see? This is why I never made it as a web designer. It’s a good thing there are so many free wordpress themes out there, because it might be time to choose another one.

Note to self: Your You’re Fired. (Guess I won’t be quitting my day job any time soon.)

I think I’ve found a new career option: Digital Coach. According to Seth Godin digital coaches are…

“…people who charge $100 an hour to hear what you do and how you do it and then show you how to do it better. People who organize data and put it in the right place. People who overhaul the way small groups use technology so they can use it dramatically better.”

And what better place to start than in the health care environment, where I see countless examples of where technology should be used, but is not. Unfortunately there are barriers. Last year when I was still in the Medical Intensive Care Unit, I proposed the idea of building a website for the unit. I was inspired by the fact that the walls were filled with random notes that someone had taped up because they didn’t know how else to get their info across. Things like, “When the MICU Social worker is on call, this is the number you should use…” And “The lab is no longer accepting form 23c so it must be replaced with form 25c.” The walls were covered, even in the employee bathrooms. It was truly a horror to such an aesthete as myself. My idea was to have an easy to navigate website that would contain every piece of information that was deemed worthy of being taped to the wall. My nurse manager, as well as my fellow co-workers seemed happy with the idea so I moved forward with it.

But then the problems started. Because it’s Hopkins, we had to have countless meetings before the website could even get off the ground, and out of these meetings arose an issue. Out of all the info that I wanted to include, there were things that should only be seen by Hopkins employees, and things that should only be seen by MICU employees, and things that we wanted the general public to be able to read. The idea of having 2 levels of password protection seemed too complicated for my skill level as a web designer. Also, I knew that if my coworkers needed to remember a password to get onto the site, they would never use it.

I struggled with some solutions until the final blow came. Johns Hopkins uses a Content Management System for all of their websites and this system is only compatible with Internet Explorer 7. Therefore, I was unable to use the CMS due to the fact that I use a Mac. (Internet Explorer stopped making Internet Exporer for the Mac after version 5.) I tried unsuccessfully to get my nurse manager to finagle a PC laptop for me, and eventually I had to drop the project.

What’s the take home here? I guess if I truly did want to be a digital coach it would be wise to start on a much smaller level. So on that note… anyone out there need a digital coach? Maybe I could come up with a plan to increase your blog productivity. Any takers? C’mon. Get me now while you can still afford me.. ( ;

Isn’t it fun having a sidebar? I love rearranging mine – It’s like moving the furniture around but without the muscle strain. Today I decided to dispose of all of my Google Adsense ads because quite frankly, my dears, I don’t think I will ever hit the $100 threshold. Instead I’ve installed a new social networking widget that I saw at Nursingbytes.net (The new nursing blog brought to you by my favorite flight nurse, crzegrl.

So it’s a lazy, cold Sunday here on the East coast and I am intermittently watching the NFL playoffs and and binging on Facebook and Twitter friends. Incidentally if you would like befriend me, just use the new widget in my left sidebar to click through to my profile.

Oh yeah, and nursing stories… There is one particular patient encounter that I have been thinking about all weekend. The only problem is that each time I start to strip away all of the patient details, (to comply with HIPPA) there’s not much to the story. Dontcha hate it when that happens?

Thank you, blogosphere for all of your comments re: How to console someone. You know, it’s been a crazy, crazy year – lots of ups and downs. Actually mostly one big “up” (Benjamin) and many smaller “downs” that have been eating away at my resilience. I’ve had some financial problems that have forced me to make some erratic career choices. And some opportunities that have left me questioning what I really want to do for the rest of my life, career-wise. Working for Affinity Labs really gave me a taste for working in the world of Internet media and now I feel like I want to get back into it somehow. But there’s just not enough room in my life for raising a kid, nursing, and a brand new career so I think I have some tough choices coming up. (And by choices I mean between nursing and Internet media. Obviously the kid stays.)

At any rate, a heartfelt thanks, because it really makes me feel better to dump all of my problems onto the Internet and get some great comments in return. You guys never disappoint. I did however, have a great non-internet exchange with one of the nurses I am working with at my new job. I told her how I had left an Internet start-up company that quickly got sold for $61 million.

“Holy crap!” she said. “For that kind of money I’d disimpact someone every day for six months!”

And that my friends, is just the kind of reaction I like to hear. Why? Because it made me laugh, and not just a casual little polite giggle, rather a deep down inside, honest to goodness, laugh. And for one delicious moment I felt really good.

Sorry to get all personal on ya. More nursing stories coming soon.

Take a look at the Urban Legend ER, where they triage for falling pennies, pop rocks, and bathtub kidney transplants.

I’m hosting Change of Shift here at PixelRN.com on Thursday, January 24th. Please send in your submissions by noon on the previous Wednesday. You can email them to BETH at PIXELRN dot COM or you can submit through Blog Carnival using this link.

I am quite excited to be hosting here at PixelRN (but also a little stressed considering I just started working 40 hours a week again!)

No theme – anything goes, but if you need some inspiration, here is a lovely picture that has absolutely nothing to do with nursing:

It’s from a collaboration between Flickr and the Library of Congress, called “The Commons.” The Library of Congress print collection contains over 14 million prints and photographs and they are using Flickr to categorize them. It’s really cool – they’ve uploaded a bunch of photos to a Flickr account and invite you, the viewer, to tag the photos in order to describe the content. I urge you to take a look. It’s your public duty!

My patient had a front tooth that looked broken. There was just a tiny bit of white part sticking out of his gum. He told me how it got that way. He said that the last time he was in the hospital he had a chest tube placed and they had a problem getting it out. Someone had turned the suction up way too high and so it sucked the tooth right up into his gum.

“Holy cow!” I said, as I stood there trying to figure out how that could be anatomically possible. “Only at Hopkins,” I said. “You really do see the strangest things here…”

And then I noticed the twinkle in his eye as he started to smile.

I am such an idiot.
I wondered if any other of his health care providers fell for that one.

I started a new contract this week working in a recovery area where cardiovascular procedures are done. So far it’s been good. They are actually giving me 4 days of orientation so I think I will be able to get a better handle on this job. It’s not difficult at all. The biggest challenge is time management, and I think you’ll find that to be true in any field of nursing.

The second biggest challenge? Changing the way that I think. I still think like a MICU nurse and now I have to think like a recovery nurse. The MICU nurse asks, “Is my patient breathing?” while the recovery nurse asks, “Does my patient have a ride home?”

Some pros and cons of working in a recovery area vs. working in the MICU:

Pros:

• Lots of downtime (After the shift is done I don’t feel like I just ran a marathon.)
• I get to talk to my patients (In the ICU, most of my patients were gorked.)
• This is huge!!! After three years of nursing, I have finally mastered starting IVs. All it took was one solid day of starting IVs in the prep area, and now I finally have that skill down.

Cons

• Lots of downtime (the evening can go by pretty s l o w w w w w.)
• I get to talk to my patients. (It’s tough when someone is in the process of telling you about how they were diagnosed with cancer and you have to gracefully interrupt them to go tend to another patient.)
• 10 hour shifts and a 40 hour work week.

I’m not crazy about working full-time but my current financial situation necessitates this. In a way it was kind of fun and satisfying. I felt like I was in my 20’s again. I came home last night at 11PM and my husband and child were asleep so I had the whole house to myself. It felt good. I didn’t re-invent the wheel, but I put in a hard day’s work and for the first time in months I just did something completely mindless and relaxing: I sat on my couch and ate Taco Bell while watching Real Housewives of Orange County. I forgot how good it feels to veg every once in awhile.

“It just wasn’t meant to be.”

“It wasn’t the right time.”

“God closes some doors so others will be opened.”

When someone you know has suffered a loss, do you find yourself struggling for the right words to say? All of the above statements are valid, kind hearted things to say, and are very often said with the best of intentions. But there’s something about these kinds of statements that don’t quite hit the mark.

Why not try this:

“Dude. That totally sucks for you.”

Because a lot of the time that’s the simple truth: Something was lost, you hurt real bad, and no one is inside your brain (or heart) to know exactly how bad you feel. And when someone comes along and acknowledges this simple truth, I think it can make you feel better.

You might be thinking that all of this insight is coming from my recent miscarriage. Surprisingly, it’s not. Rather, it’s this:

Last week I wrote about how I had my dream job working as the general manager for NursingLink and I quit for various reasons. On January 4th the news broke that Affinity Labs (parent company of Nursing Link) was sold to Monster.com for $61 million.

Part of my salary was in shares of Affinity Labs, which had less than 30 employees when I worked there. You do the math.

So. Did I lose out on a big chunk of change? Probably. Are my reasons for quitting still valid? Absolutely. Either way, when I heard the news I was really quite beside myself. Actually, I was kind of freaking out and I really wanted to talk to someone about it. And everyone I talked to said things like, “Well, you made the best decision for your family.” and “Who knows if you would have been able to cash out on it.” I know the people who said these things really had the best of intentions. But the one thing I wanted someone to say (and no one did) was this:

“Dude. That. Sucks. Hard.”

That way I could say, “Yes, it certainly does suck,” and move on to my next adventure.

Does the fact that a financial loss upset me more than the loss of an unborn child make me a greedy capitalist pig? Perhaps. Was it Socrates that said “Know thyself”? In the meantime I told Benjamin what an expensive kid he is turning out to be and he just laughs and eats another cheerio.

Urbane scrubs has always been my favorite brand of scrubs. There’s something about the way they fit. They hug your body without being too snug. The material is just the right poly-cotton blend that’s soft enough yet doesn’t absorb stains. They also have an excellent color pallet to choose from. When I was a staff nurse in the MICU, these were the only scrubs that could entice me away from wearing the hospital issue scrubs (which I absolutely love – I’ll get to that in another post.)

Did you know that Urbane scrubs was actually founded by a couple of critical care nurses? I’ll bet that’s why they turn out such a good product. My sponsor, My Nursing Uniforms, has sent me a new pair of scrubs to test drive and to review right here on PixelRN. Today I’ll be reviewing the classic crossover top with the drawstring boot cut pant, both in galaxy blue with a ceil stripe.

First of all, let me tell you what’s important to me in a pair of scrubs.

1. Appearance – Hey, to look good is to feel good, right? If you work in an office you pay attention to your clothes and how you look. Why wouldn’t you do the same for your scrubs? This is one reason why I stay away from prints and cutesy cartoon stuff.

2. Fit – I like them roomy, but not baggy. Not bunching up in odd places is a good feature. In a word – comfortable, but still fulfilling my need to look good.

3. Pockets – something deep enough to fit a pen in and wide enough to fit an 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper folded in quarters. I keep all of my notes on this paper so it should fit in my pocket. Plus it should be roomy enough for a few extras – alcohol swabs, sharpies, my iPhone, some mints.

Urbane scrubs get a 10/10 in the first two categories, and a 7/10 in the last category. The front packet is nice to have, but it doesn’t comfortably fit a folded up 8.5 x 11. I usually end up stuffing this in my back pocket and holding all my other things in the front pocket. However, this is certainly not a deal breaker in terms of choosing a pair of scrubs. When all my scrubs are clean (you know that golden moment when ALL your laundry is done and you can wear whatever you want?) I will always go for the urbane scrubs, every single time. (That is if I’m working!)

(In the interest of full disclosure, I will let you know that my friends at My Nursing Uniforms are compensating me for this review, although the compensation was not dependent on a positive or glowing review – what I am telling you hear is my honest of opinion of these scrubs.)