February 8, Still cold!

February 7, 2009

After working 3, 12.5-hour shifts, I find myself exhausted. I did get myself up, though, and found another market today. Shepard’s Bush Market. It was a decent market and I enjoyed browsing around. Afterwards, I treated myself to an all-you-can-eat Thai restaurant, and to the movie, Doubt. The subject matter of the movie caught me by surprise, as I had not heard anything about the content. It was quite good. I am also planning on going to another movie tomorrow with my new friend, Jacqueline, so this will be a double-header weekend.

Work is going quite well. I really enjoy the people I work with, and find them to be a lot of fun. I find the amenities to be challenging, though. For those of us who have grumbled about our break room in the new tower, believe me, it is spacious compared to what we have at the National. There is no kitchen facility for the staff, and we are at the mercy of using a kitchen that is used for the patients, and the staff who run it. I find myself constantly in trouble with the caterer, Rita, but I have to admit that I have dug in my heels on this one. There are four microwaves, but we can use only one, and it is in a corner that is usually inaccessible. The other three for some reason are not to be used by us. Well, when you are the third person in line and looking at three other microwaves, it is just too tempting to not use one!! So I did and I will, despite being yelled at! Then the only sink that is accessible to use I have been told I cannot use, as supposedly it needs to be bleached out after every use! No, Donna, you cannot borrow that fork or a teacup, even though you plan on returning them. (Now, I have just gotten to where I sneak out a fork or a teacup!!) Anyway, I guess you can say I have chosen this battle. I have been trying to butter up Rita, but it is going to be a long, slow process.

We had in interesting situation on our unit. All patients are screened for MRSA on admit and every seven days thereafter. A lot of patients stay a long time, a very long time, sometimes, a non-understandably long time from my view (lumbar lami with no complications for 3 weeks because he felt like he needed to stay there?) So anyway, we had seven patients who came in with MRSA, and then we had two more with MRSA who did not come in with it. (MRSA is a bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics and can be devastating if entered into a body system where it does not normally live, such as wounds. It can be spread between patients by staff when good hand washing is not done.) So our unit was closed to new patients, and the ward was strip cleaned and patients moved around. We ended up having bays with “clean girls”, “dirty girls”, “clean boys”, and “dirty boys”. It was quite an interesting process to observe. There are 24 rooms with the curtains, and three private rooms. Some of the dirty people were put in the private rooms, and it was very surprising to me that they complained about having a private room!! One of them was an elderly woman with a halo brace, who could barely walk without swaying side to side, and she kept getting up and leaving her room crying about how lonely she was!

Oh, big news. I passed my medication-passing test!!!!!! I guess I am somewhat of an overachiever when it comes to passing this test, as most people fail it a couple of times first. The first part of the process was to do a workbook. I had to resubmit it twice before it passed, as I was having a hard time getting my answers exactly like they wanted them. Then I was observed and drilled with medication passing. I have to say, it was quite a thorough assessment. Medication passing is quite different. The meds are kept in a locked trolley full of boxes and bottles, and you have to hunt and search through them to find them. I learned that the word dispersible means dissolvable. Almost everyone there gets paracatemol (Tylenol), 1,000 mg every 5 hours. So I was so happy that I passed the test!!!! Until then, I was considered as a new grad! I hope this moves me up a grade in the tier of nursing!

Update on my TV. I took back the fourth antennae today. I was having a hard time getting fewer than 10 shadows regardless of where I stood in the room. I took it back to one store with the plan on getting another one at a different store. But by the time I got to it, it was closed!!!! Darn. So tomorrow, another antennae will need to be purchased.

Julie F., today’s picture is for your benefit!! Enjoy.

I am hearing from some of you that you are not able to post comments! Sad~~

A couple of pictures!!

Short update.

Feb 2, 2009

Today we woke up to London covered in snow. They said it was the most snowfall in 18 years! No buses were running and the tube and train were very delayed. The airlines also had cancellations and delays. I was to have gone in for a “moving and handling” inservice, but offered to go onto the ward instead, and was quickly taken up on my offer. The walk in was quite surreal, as London without buses is an odd sensation.

Ok, I am still struggling with this experience. I need a debriefing; I need to discuss the patient cases that I have seen. I need to talk. Our ward is closed to taking new patients because of a mrsa spread. I had a patient who we were giving peripheral iv phenytoin while her iv site was painful. Just a myriad of events that I need to discuss.

I have tomorrow off, then head in for a 3-day stint.

Enjoy the pictures!!

February 1, 2009. A cold, snowy day!

February 1, 2009


I just worked 3 long days, laced with outings in London with Dow. It is quite cold, windy, and there are snow showers. Dow and I spent the morning helping a girl move into her dorm room with the help of her parents. The elevator is not working, and it is 72 steps up to the fourth floor, or there is another route with a long walk and many fire doors to another elevator. Between the two choices, we helped them move her things into her room. She had enough belongings to completely fill up the space of her room. She is separated from her husband, but there is a 2-year waiting time before they can divorce! She told me this building is to have cable TV access this month!!!!!
Our outing today was to go have Sunday dinner at the pub where we went last week. That dinner is so incredible!! Again, anyone coming over to London, I will treat you to this dinner!!! It is cold and windy today, and has actually snowed enough to cover the ground. Therefore, we have had a quiet day in the room, watching some good TV. Yesterday we took a bus to Greenwich and had a pub meal, as it was too cold to do much else. But it was a nice, long bus ride that we enjoyed. On the way back we got caught up in a traffic jam because of a demonstration related to Gaza, but it was actually a good thing, because the bus went slowly over the river Thames, and we were able to look out at the sites, including the buildings of parliament and Big Ben.
Tomorrow I have my mandatory, moving and handling class. I am now off of supernumerary (being with a preceptor), but I have yet to take my drug-passing test before I can pass medication on my own. I believe this involves being with an instructor and demonstrating my competency to be able to pass medication by following the 5 rights. I have completed a workbook with questions regarding medication knowledge. They have pca’s, but that requires another workbook and test. The attitude towards pca’s seems to be quite different than what I am used to. The policy is that there needs to be nursing one to one to assure safety for patients with pca’s. There is only one medication, morphine, and there is only one setting.
I now have my uniform and identification, so I am feeling quite equipped for the job. I also have black shoes, but I wore them 2 days in a row, and I had to take a break from them because I could hardly walk by the end of the second shift! So it was back to my white Keds for a while.
I absolutely love going to work; however, there are a few issues that I am having a hard time with, and they basically center around medical care. I am looking forward to talking to colleagues in Portland and see if I can make sense of my observations. When a nurse has worked in a specialty for years, there is an expected course of medical care that she would expect for patients. What I am seeing here does not necessarily match those expectations, but again, different is different.
Some observations. Medication boxes also have Braille on them. No filter needles and a lot of glass ampules. Sharp containers are infrequent, and the hole to drop the sharp in is gaping.
Oh by the way, have I mentioned that I have 7 weeks of vacation a year? Yep, true story. They are already pushing vacation on me. This is enabling me to come home to Portland for a week the end of February!!

Some various pictures, China Town, Camden Market, My room!!!