I posted this tip while I was vaguely bored and amused at work:

?#tip -if u r in hospital coz your <insert limb> is being amputated due 2 smoking, please don’t expect 2 b smoking straight after the surgery

Then had a friend suggested that these “ads” and “Stories” doesn’t work in helping him stop smoking. in fact, he felt a strong urge to smoke straight after that and went ahead – after not smoking the entire morning. LOL!

I don’t usually talk much about work publicly these days, much less about stuff that I know from work while I am at work. However, I can’t help thinking about some of the “amusing” but important things that work makes me think about, experience and muse over and these were one of them.

Simply put, smoking lowers your blood circulation of oxygen. the way it works, your peripherals/extremities (so fingers, toes) are usually the last part of your system that gets oxygen before your blood makes it way back to the heart as deoxygenated blood.

In articles and experiences, and just from wandering around, I have seen and heard of many people who have lost a toe, then a whole foot or arm or both legs thanks to gangrene that is, basically smoking related. The vaguely thought-provoking part is how they viewed the loss of the limb/finger/toe/etc. They would have had just come back from the op not a day ago, some of them are still on the gurney/wheelchair as they are barely out of the induced “sleep”… and they are back to smoking.

I have asked, quite innocently the first few times, why were they still smoking then? you know, you just lost your < insert limb >, shouldn’t you be worried about losing anything else? Often, I find the response is the same. “well, I already lost one. There’s no point stopping now.” However, they can see too, just their own smoking partner, for example, who has lost more than just that one. or have been told they could lose more. But, by then, they have also spiralled downwards into various forms of depression.  It’s a little hard to also see out of that box.

The thing is, every patients have rights. Some patients do opt for a nicotine patch to get through this, this doesn’t always work as the addiction sometimes includes the very act of holding the cigarette to your mouth. we can’t stop them from smoking unless it’s within a court-ordered thing (which courts are often not likely to do as smoking often falls under a lifestyle choice rather than a self-harm option). Unless the very act of going to smoke might have other implications, e.g. a confused/suicidal patient might run away, there are very few ways of stopping a patient from smoking in the days following their amputation op.

So the nurses don’t stop them. We sometimes do get close enough to a patient to “nag”, but besides that, I won’t say we don’t care, but it’s more “how are you going to stop that?”. Smoking cessation stems very much from a choice made by the smoker too. The nagging ain’t going to stop nuffin’

It just irks me that often, such “needs” also spiral downwards to involve various sort of abuse, and I am not talking about just from patients who couldn’t help themselves stop yelling at us. They feel a need to smoke, they demand nurses bring them down to smoke. If we are too busy, they start yelling and screaming at us. Some would even threaten to punch the shit out of us.

side note: I know in our jobs, we would end up dealing with some sort of violence once a day. but… over a cigarette/coffee/insert some other addiction? Really now, what do we look like? your slaves?

Anyways, my point is this: you lost a limb to smoking. that’s really your problem. Everyone working in healthcare do care, we just have a lot of important things to attend to that sometimes does not prioritise your smoking, particularly since it caused your loss of limb and people do advice against smoking so soon after the op. don’t be making your addiction everyone else’s problem.

Current Mood:  amused

I saw the above title on Reader’s Digest today and compulsively bought the magazine. It’s been a while since I bought any reader’s digest, but when I saw the title, I absolutely have to have it – even if the stories inside might be inaccurate, it did prove to give me a chuckle.

Of course, the quotes inside were far from inaccurate! They were hilariously funny, including some awesome statistics.

“86% have had to leave a patient’s room quickly because they were about to laugh uncontrollably.” Mark asked, what about the remaining 14%? “They waited till they got to the break room and tell everyone else about it so they can laugh together.”

“doctors blaming nurses for mistakes – it happens all the time. But the mistakes are easily traceable. They learn very very quickly that they can’t get away with it.” I have to disagree with the last sentence. I supposed, it also depends on WHO makes those mistakes and how much they cared. Some doctors will never learn that they made those mistakes, others refuse to think they made those mistakes.

“we always question doctors because a lot of the time they are only there for 5 seconds and we have much more experience with patients.”

This calls to mind a recent debate that raged on in a BMJ forum. It pisses me off quite a bit because the people who posted on the said forums were ragging on the nurses they had to deal with. From thinking they were trying to usurp doctors, to thinking they are flirting at the desk… and then finally, suggesting I put shit down on my iphone. Let’s put it this way, if I wasn’t getting someone their precious coffee, it might be because I have my hands up someone’s ass. an iphone isn’t going to get me to remember that while I am busy up someone’s ass.

The other thing that gets me, with those posts, was that we were all meant to work as a team. If we’re not answering buzzers, it’s probably because we were too busy. If we didn’t know whether someone’s got clothes from their relatives, it’s probably because we were somewhere else – also being busy. I have found nurses, when they finally got the time, to personally check shelves and drawers to ensure someone has got clothes. But in that last scenario, is it that disgusting to walk up to the patient and discuss their wellbeing yourself? Working as a team means you also need to know, therefore you might as well go talk to the person you’re meant to help.

my theory is, if you have had time to mull over this and complain, you definitely have time to walk up there and chit chat with the patient.

Contrary to the forum though, I have been having great camaraderie with the doctors at work. We’ve had doctors who got angry on our behalves, doctors who helped get us coffees because we have had a rough night. Some brought in food to share with the ward, although they really only had 10 minutes to sit and eat with us, or vice versa. It’s absolutely fantastic!

“despite nurses’ best efforts, hospitals are still filthy and full of drug-resistant germs. I don’t even bring my shoes into the house when I get home.” I think, there’s a study somewhere that says the worst hit area is, really, the keyboards of hospital computers. Fantastic breeding grounds, apparently.

Everyone who has ever worked in a nursing home or a hospital will enjoy this little gem, “don’t page me to your room to fluff up your pillows or move your trolley closer to the bed – I am not your personal nurse,  i have 5 other patients to care for.” In all technicality, I am really a personal nurse in a hospital setting, but this gem is stil relevant in many circumstances. I have heard patients screaming down the hallways, asking “WHERE IS MY TEA! I WANT IT NOW!” or, better yet, the buzzers that goes off because

- pillows are on wrong: nevermind how many times we  adjusted it, it is still wrong and we end up being in the same room for half an hour still adjusting it.

- coffee is too hot, then too cold, then too bitter…

- “the food sucks. I would like a lobster/crab/fillet mignon.” I would love to have a fillet mignon too, please.

- “Can you open the windows?” no, those windows are sealed because people might jump out of there!

- “why can’t you stuff a pillow in her face? she’s waking me up!” because hospitals are for SAVING people, despite however annoying they might be.

- “darling, I will give you $5000. Just help me stand up.” No amount of money in this world is going to entice me to help you stand up if you can’t bear weight. Similarly, don’t offer me any money for any reasons in the world. It’s unethical, unprofessional and, dear god in heaven, it won’t make an asshole look like Eric Northman in that split second.

y’all should just go buy reader’s digest, it’s good for a laugh ^^

Current Mood:  amused