Soup's On!

Today's blog post will be filed under "Things that make you go Hmmmmm".

For those of you who don't know, I am an educated woman. Long story, and many student loans later, I have 2 Bachelor's degrees and a Master's degree. I work as a nurse anesthetist and all my co-workers are Master's degree trained.

So imagine our surprise when this little "education" poster showed up in our lounge at work:





The whole thing is laughable. But what cracks me up the most is the part that reads, "Place top on Styrofoam cup to take heated soup to patient room".

Hellooo, administration, I work in the operating room where MY patients can have nothing by mouth!




Hmmmmmm......

Poo Magnetism

I never really had a nickname growing up. I wanted one.

Most people couldn’t pronounce my incredibly cool Greek name, so the names I did get called would certainly not fit into the “nickname” category.

College came and the nicknames started flying: Tameo, Pany, O-2, Cubby….blah blah blah.

Fast forward to my mid 20’s when a friend, for whatever reason, dubbed me as “Sprout”.

Yes, as in:

Anyway, it stuck, and in the Emergency Medical World I became known simply as “Sprout”. Many of the folks I worked with back then, still call me that to this very day.

Which (finally) brings me to this post’s title: Poo Magnetism.

What is it?

It is the STRONG ability one has to attract “POO” in a magnetic like fashion. (Not as in literal Poo, figurative Poo).

Who has it?

Me.

How does one know if they possess Poo Magnetism?

Their co-workers will tell them so.

Or at least mine did. And it didn’t take long for me to acquire that name.

Most of you know that I am a nurse anesthetist and have been for the past three years. A couple times a month, my job requires me to be “on-call” for 24 hours at the hospital. I am either in the OB unit with the lovely laboring ladies, or I am in the main operating room doing any manner of surgical case.

Sometimes the call person is up all night working and other times they are lucky enough to make it to the call room for some amount of sleep. If they are REALLY super duper lucky they go to the call room and sleep ALL NIGHT LONG (what a novel idea).

Guess what usually happens if you are a Poo Magnet?

Yep, you are up all night and usually attract some pretty yucky cases.

The very first night I took 24 hour call, I think I set the tone for my call career. You guessed it, I was up the ENTIRE night working.

Three years,

SEVERAL all nighters, and

MANY Poo cases later……

I wish I had never so strongly desired a nickname.

I guess it would be a bit much for me to sign the bottom of my charts:

Nurse Anesthetist Sprout, Poo Magnet extraordinaire

24

 

Hello, my name is Jack(ie) Bauer and I’ve been saving the laboring world…..one epidural at a time.

And it was with great excitement that Saturday’s “episode” could have been called 23, thanks to Daylight Savings Time.  I’ve never been more excited to give up an hour of my life.

 

I don’t watch 24 but from what I understand Jack Bauer and I live parallel lives…. we both save the world.  Him from bad guys and me from labor pains.  Similar?  I think yes!

“I'm federal agent Jack Bauer, and today is the longest day of my life”

Funny, that’s exactly what I think every time I do a shift of 24 hour OB call!

 

Here’s a few things I typically encounter in any one shift:

 

Patient:  “I don’t like needles”

Me looking at THIS on their back:

 

Me thinking to myself: “Whatever”

 

 

I sometimes have the opportunity to brush up on my 9th grade Spanish.  Dolor = pain.  Ta-da, that’s it.  Oh, and I can ask where is the bathroom.  Which isn’t really pertinent here.   

I have noticed that when I have a Hispanic patient that speaks a little English, I am suddenly in a heated game of Charades.

Envision if you will:  Me standing, pointing at her belly asking “dolor”, then pointing to my back saying “epidural, no dolor”.  And for some reason I talk louder like that will make them understand.

Hey, Jack Baeur doesn’t speak any other language, why should I?

(Have no fear, I do use translators and we also have a cheat sheet to get proper consent.)

 

And the one thing I have to endure, that I’m sure Jack Baeur doesn’t, is pregnant women with an attitude.

Just this weekend I had a patient tell me, “this is ri-DIC-a-lous!”  (sound it out and that is exactly how she said it to me).    She wanted me to know that her legs were hurting because they were numb and she was not happy about that. 

Me: “So let me get this straight.  You don’t feel any of your labor pains and your legs are numb but they ‘hurt’?”

Patient: “Yea”

Me:  “It seems as if our epidural IS working properly and if the painful numbness continues to bother you as much as you are telling me, then the only thing I can do is turn off your epidural pump”

Patient:  “I’m good” 

I never heard back from her and she delivered a few hours later--- pain free.

 

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

 

Jack Baeur….he ain’t got nothing on me!  He wouldn’t make it working my 24 hours!

One Dream At A Time

In honor of National Nurse Anesthetists Week, I thought I would introduce you to MY profession!

This year’s theme:

“Dream a Little Dream With Us”

What is a nurse anesthetist you might ask??

Nurse anesthetists are advanced practice nurses who administer approximately 30 million anesthetics in the United States each year. They are at the forefront of anesthesia patient safety, practicing in every type of setting where anesthesia is needed. CRNAs are the sole anesthesia providers in nearly two-thirds of all rural hospitals, and have been the main provider of anesthesia care to U.S. service men and women on the front lines of battle since World War I. (AANA.com)

How about a little glance into my work world.

My Office:

My Desk:

My Instruments:

My “Goodie” Drawer:

Safety is ALWAYS first:

FYI: NEVER, I repeat, NEVER take a photo of yourself and send it to a co-worker. She just might upload it to EVERY computer screen in your office. I am just sayin’.

Master of my domain:

My name is Tammy, and I am proud to be a Nurse Anesthetist!

For more information on visit the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists website, HERE.