Sundowning

There are few things that make me sadder than seeing a confused old man in a pair of these mits. The look of hopelessness and confusion in their eyes as they ask you why you are putting these on them is enough to make you want to cry. We use these to prevent patients from pulling out their IV's, foley's and other bodily tubes.

Patients who sundown can potentially win themselves a pair of these gloves. They remind me of the mittens Micky Mouse wears which makes them even more depressing.

I had never heard of sundowning before becoming a nurse, but as I understand it, it is dementia that kicks in abruptly in the afternoon/evening and then goes away again in the morning. You might recognize this phenomenon when suddenly that elderly patient who you've been having such nice conversations with all day is now calling you a tooth fairy (in the best of cases) or trying to break your fingers (in the worst).

I hear the secrets that you keep...

...when you're delirious and hospitalized.
When asked, "Do you know where you are right now?" of some of my less oriented patients I've heard: "a barn", "a birthday party", "a bus", "a sex lab", and "Serbia" to name a few incorrect responses.

One of the unique aspects of nursing is the intimate moments you sometimes share with your patients. I've heard admissions of hatred of family members, revelations of sexual exploits, and of course there's the usual cleaning of butts, weenies, and va-jay-jays... It's kind of like being the bartender at a pub your patrons never wanted to come to (and often times don't even know they're at).

studystudystudystudystudystudystudystudystudystudystudystudystudystudystudystudystudystudystu

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

All I do these days is study for for NCLEX, study for NCLEX, sleep, wake up, study for NCLEX, coffee, study for NCLEX, have a drink, watch Jersey Shore (don't judge me, I'm unstable!), study for NCLEX...

 

It would be more fun if I had this cute little group of nursey's to study with but I feel like I'm in siberia!!! No contact with humans, just snooki y mi cervecita.

Dear Patron Saint of Nurses...

Please help me pass the NCLEX!!!! I'm straight up loozin my shizz over here...

And the winner of best excuse goes to....

One of the kids on the psych unit told staff yesterday that he didn't want to participate in activity hour because he was landing spaceships in his room. Given the choice of 1) coloring or 2) landing spaceships in the comfort of my room, I'd probably also go with the latter.