mursing

On my honor, I will do my best - to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the law; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.

Well, I have plenty to write about, however, I have had little time to express the things that running through the vast amount of grey matter I have added over the course of nursing school considering I have been on orientation and studying for the dreaded NCLEX.

During the absolutely mind blowing (ahem) orientation where it seems the nurse educators are trying to cover the entirety of nursing school in 5 days, I realize that nurses should do more for themselves when it comes to preparedness. We are the Boy (or Girl) Scouts of the medical field along with our First Responders. It’s required that we show up with our pencil, pen, eraser, calculator, stethoscope, scissors and especially our brain. I want to thank the Civil Air Patrol for providing the following suggestions for creating your own emergency pack. However, if you don’t want to spend a bazillion dollars, here’s one that an incredible nursing instructor from the beloved state of Arkansas suggested:

1. Vinyl gloves 1 box: Walmart

2. 4×4 dressings/OTC dressing materials

3. Roll of tape (pink plastic? waterproof tape)

4. Vaseline gauze

5. Ace bandages

6. Alcohol handwash/foam cleanser

7. Old sheets and old towels kept CLEAN in plastic bag (The plastic bag can double as a waterproof field…under a woman’s bottom when she is delivering in the back seat of a car stopped in front of you…some old sheets may be torn up for slings)

8. Blanket (for shock and warmth if weather is freezing)

9. S tube (local medical supply house…we have Ladrael…our CPR manikin suppliers…you do not have to put your mouth on anybody…and there is a side vent so you do not come in contact with their exhaled air either)

10. Tourniquet (to control arterial hemorrhage)…if you need to do other things than hold pressure

11. Premoistened wipes…like pampers for cleaning babies…wipes up all kinds of stuff

12. Floor mats in your car may be used for splints with a roll of duct tape to secure them around a limb

13. Two sanitary napkins in a ziplock baggie (for emergency delivery)

14. plastic cup and scissors (to stabilize penetrating objects…cut a hole in the end of the cup and tape it down over the penetrating object so it can’t wiggle and cause more damage)

15. Umbrella (sometimes all you can do is sit with somebody on the highway and keep the rain out of their faces) plastic poncho’s can be purchased for $1 at Dollar Tree

16. Duct tape can be used to bind a flair chest that is ballooning out on exhalation…wait for the chest to suck in…then quickly apply the tape over the caved in area to stabilize the chest wall.

17. Paper bag for rebreathing if hysteria has caused rapid breathing and respiratory alkalosis

Suggestions?

Tags: nursing, random thoughts //