Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Life Lessons Learned and the the Abundance of Pooh

In yet another teaching shift, I got assigned to a new grad nurse who was quick on her feet and even quicker in her thinking. She told me that she was really looking forward to learning about the indications for using different kinds of antibiotics. However, she got a lesson in pooh (really, aren’t all lessons about pooh?). She learned that it is far better to collect blood and urine samples before giving a massive tap water enema to a little old bunged up lady who is just confused enough to crap all over the room and then stand in the middle of the carnage with a smile on her face. Some lessons can only be learned through experience no matter how far in advance a warning is given.

13 comments:

OMDG said...

Ah, pragmatic life lessons. I'll bet she'll never forget this one!

Glee said...

Oh no! A crappy way to learn how to prioritize;)

Gert said...

Reminds me of the classic 'Scrubs' episode "It's All About the Pooh"!

A necessary lesson, we all learn this early on.

I really thought you were going to say something about Winnie the Pooh....

Grumpy, M.D. said...

I assume we don't mean a bear named Winnie.

Anonymous said...

In my experience I've learned that 50 percent of everything I need to know about life is how to properly clean up crap while retaining my dignity...

Marz said...

Yes, all life lessons are about pooh. You, Dr Oz, Oprah and God have taught me that.

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Anonymous said...

What gets me is that she had a smile on her face after all of this.

RehabNurse said...

We teach the Tao of Poo in rehab...lots of poo (sans h) going on.

Case in point: patient asks nurse about a "funny smell" the other night.

Nurse: "Oh, go by room xx. That's where it's coming from. Not all poop smells the same."

Patient rolls on down the hall.

PS: Hope she needed a stool sample, too. That part would have been easy after that!

Anonymous said...

The real test: Did she run screaming? Or cheerfully clean up the mess?

StorytellERdoc said...

great post...there seems to be even more and more enemas done these days...but i think i'm popular with my team because I haven't ordered one in two yearS! (nothing two enemas and hour a part and a bottle of mag citrate four hours later can't help!

Enjoy your week

danielle said...

These are the type of lessons that are never forgotten!

Maha said...

@ Dr. G - We are most definitely NOT talking about Winnie!

@ Torontoemerg - She helped clean up the mess while wearing several masks, swearing profusely and cursing constipation in general!

@ Rehab Nurse - Stool samples are NEVER needed when there's an abundance of doody! Never!

@ StorytellERdoc - would you like to work in place of our enema prescribing doc? :)