So how do you handle it when there's that one nurse that takes the whole mile when you offer her an inch? We have one in particular that is the queen of taking more than you can give and then wanting more. We were having maybe the craziest night ever when she decided that even though I was insanely busy, I was her personal RT. Never mind that my ...

There is a family at work that I have gotten close with. Understandably, they want nothing but the best for their baby. Their daughter is five and a half months old and has had one of the rockiest starts I have ever seen. So far, she has defied the odds, but it seems that her odds have recently grown worse. Her mom (we'll call her Betty) is ...

Being unemployed seemed like a blessing in disguise at first. I mean, who wouldn't want to receive an unemployment check to stay home and catch up on the little odds and ends that accumulate when you are on a strict, busy schedule of day and night shifts? Sure, there are people who like to be busy all the time--I'm one of them. But I defy anyone ...

Talking to an old classmate the other day brought up the memory of a very distinct clinical experience, which most students go through and never forget: my first terminal wean. ''It's depressing, you know. Some of these people you actually want to see taken off the vent, because they are already dead. It's just hard for the family to accept ...

''You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.'' I got a call from my mother while in the middle of vacation informing me that I was coming home unemployed. Now, for many, this would be a shock. Not so much for me. For those who follow this blog, I've stated on a few different occasions some specifics about my chosen hospital. Please allow ...

I think of myself as a nice person. My co-workers describe me as bubbly, friendly and funny. Being very easy-going, I get along with most people right off the bat. But that all changed when I had treatments on a child we'll call Norman. Norman is a sweet, teenage boy with severe CP. He normally has treatments at home, but they had been beefed up ...

Nothing quite like a 16-hour shift when the hospital is dead. Thank God for my laptop, which allows me to get some other work done. The cool thing about our profession is that things can turn around instantly. There's really no way of predicting how the day will go. In the midst of the almost-midnight calmness of our department, I get a call for ...

As I sit here typing, my hands are shaking. Furthermore, every chart I've signed or every thing I've written looks like an eager three-year-old just got their hands on their very first ink pen. I just got back from an unsuccessful code. Doesn't matter how many you do, they all have that mix of adrenaline and nervousness, mixed up in your ...

Complaining about holiday rotations? Why is it that even though we know we'll have to work holidays as a hospital RT we still complain about it?   I am not exempting myself by any means. I was very upset to have to work the first Christmas after I got married. I was super jealous that my husband got to go to his dad's annual ...

''You've got to fill your heart with pure love.''-Colin Hay...and Colin Hay always speaks the truth. Tis' the season, so what better topic for this blog than love in the setting of hospitals and the respiratory field? In my estimation, to be in this field, nursing or yes, even to be a doctor, one must have a huge heart. Miles and miles of heart. ...