Posts (page 2)

apart from the fact that my hair was already thinning, additional stress had cause more balding to develop. no wonder people said that if a person is mentally unwell or depress he/she will have poor grooming/ hygiene. i am yet to the point of not showering and brushing my teeth but i had neglected on my grooming. i use any shampoo that i lay hands on, never wash my face with the cleanser but with body foam. no toner, no moisturer, etc.

finally my assignments are out in the deep pool of many other's assignments somewhere in Austraila waiting to be graded and to somewhat seal my fate. at least now i am more at ease. for the past weeks or so, i had been so tight up and stress that i was eating but never full, sleeping but never rested, living just for the pure sake of moving on with the hours and days. and yah... i pulled my hair... *sigh*...

my bio. online quizes were done so poorly that i refrain from discussing it and sharing my online quize records cuz i am so ashame of my bad result. DAMN! then... it came to a point, i psyco myself to believe that somehow if we pass and submit the needful we will all get credit and be able move on. no need to aim too high and kill myself. get the deg and life goes on. honestly even if i am a merit student will it make much of a different for me?? i guess YES but the problem is... i don't think i can be that... the most a A or B student. someone once said... "so what if u r the second in place? u r still a loser. the winner is and will only be 1" so... strictly speaking i am just adopting the "AH Q" spirit and be willing to be 1 of those many faceless individual among the crowd. i think i seriously need a msw/ psy ref now. haha... =(

i was browsing thru my stack of magazines and newspaper when this article caught my eyes. some companies are actually choosing their employee via facebook! wow.. it so weird. their reason was they believe people that owns a page on the such webby should be IT sauvy, young (at least mentally), etc.

i am not keen on friendster and facebook because of the ton of applications and i need to d/l and the loading time and bugs on some of those sites sucks! but i think that's because i am not IT sauvy enough to know how to get around those problem i face?

will u as a company boss choose your to-be-emplyee via such means? i always thot such websites are meant for informal interaction between people. so people tend to post rubbish and funny photos on their own facebooks. but if my prospective bosses may be peeking into it for a 'deeper understanding' of my personal conduct..err... maybe that will means a rather different presentation of my online personality? too much possiblities araise from such a topic that i had discussed with my hubby. his views are rather similiar to mine but he does have another point of view on the IT thing. well... just as life is... not absolute answer to anything.. =)

i wonder... will nursing come to a point where, we get online-shopped by our prospective hospital? haha... then wat will they look for in our profile? hmm... *mental note- nvr post druken photo of self online!* =P

its raining outside now. so i thot i mgiht as well take a break and vox alittle. =) long time no vox. in fact the entire vox community had die down too. haha... as of normal... the occurance of natural death process... =P

Clostridium difficile (CD) is recognised as a major causative agent of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea and colitis [1, 2]. It is found in the normal flora of approximately 2% of healthy adults. Prevalence rises with age and older people have colonisation rates of up to 14% [2, 3]. CD infection is primarily acquired in hospitals and long-stay facilities, most commonly presenting as either mild colitis or watery, mucus-containing diarrhoea with no blood.

Patient management requires withdrawal of any precipitating antibiotics followed by oral metronidazole or vancomycin for 7–10 days [2, 3]. Up to 20% of patients will have a symptomatic relapse on completion of treatment, which can then prove difficult to treat.

^.....

Relapsing CD infection occurs in up to 20% of patients [4]. Usual treatment for a relapse comprises a 7–10 day course of either metronidazole or vancomycin. Subsequent relapse may respond to probiotic therapy [5]. Some patients, however, continue to relapse whenever treatment is discontinued, creating a significant therapeutic challenge.

Cholestyramine binds CD toxin, but is not routinely used as it can also bind vancomycin [2]. There is increasing evidence that the immune response to CD toxin plays a major role in determining susceptibility to recurrent diarrhoea. Several investigators have found that patients with recurrent disease exhibit low antibody levels to CD toxin [4]. In one study of hospital-acquired CD-related diarrhoea, an increase in serum IgG anti-toxin antibody levels was strongly associated with asymptomatic carriage. Lack of antibody response was associated with a 48-fold increase in risk for CD diarrhoea [1]. An immune response to CD toxin may therefore protect against CD diarrhoea.

Intravenous immunoglobulin may effectively treat relapsing CD infection [6–8]. Our patient responded quickly to this intervention when all other treatment strategies had failed over the preceding 6 months. Further study may establish whether intravenous immunoglobulin has a role in routine treatment of recurrent CD infection. Presently it should be considered in cases of repeated relapse where conventional treatment has failed.

extracted from : http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/35/1/85

the urine bag that the ward is currently using must had been the champion after that intenstive 'survey' that was conducted last yr. i remembered having to write down how we felt in regard with the different brands' urine bag. ease of usage, etc.

its good that this new urine bag comes with a holder so we don't have to worry abt running low on those holders. but the complaint i had is its material. yes, the material of the bag is rather weak! on numerous occasions the holes that were meant for the holder had been torn and had to be secured with tapes to ensure the bag can be held in place. another evidence on how weak the material was that 1 day as i was sponging a patient i found the bedsheet kept getting wet! i was wonder why, afterall it was a new sheet and i had not placed any wet cotton/ wipes on it. then... i realised that the urine bag was punctured by the holder! that's why when the bag was placed on the bed, the urine actually was leaking out from the bag instead from the valve! *faint* i had to change the bedsheet 2x during 1 bedsponging. then on yet another occasion, there was a rather restless lady placed on IDC. she kept tugging it and when she realised she can't pull out the IDC from her body, she turned to pulling the tube connecting to the urine bag towards herself (imagine, the urine bag was hang from the cotside). then i realised a pool of water on the floor right below the urine bag. yes... the part where the tube connect to the urine bag was leaking! wow.. powerful lady sia... or should i say weak urine bag?!

i wonder did the company manufacturing these shh shh bag did any QC check before pushing out of its factory. not only its a sub-quality product, it also pose a risk of infection (UTI?) to the already not so well pple using it. hmm... food for thot, ya?

movies.... movies.... movies....

i had fulfilled my desire to watch water horse. orwh... such a wonderful heart-warming movie! the creature with its innocent eyes and expressive moans. now i want to watch AUGUST RUSH! i wonder why isn't it release in august?! haha... ok lame joke.

i had always like Keri the lady in the movie, since her debute in 'felicity'. another heart-warming movie that will bring tears of angish and then tears of joy. i like such ironic stuff. any takers? hmm... maybe i will watch it this weekend, i hardly get weekends off anyway.

i am fascinated by the nature of volcano. the techincal part of how it is formed and why it blows, is as boring as it can be. yet the actual live eruption is beyond description. the heat, intensity, color, smell and everything that comes with it. wow!! amazing! athough the smell of sulphur is really off putting, the charms of volcano continues to draw tourists to itself. in an eruption if the heat and the intial lava don't get to you, the aftermath's ash 'rain' and dust will. i am truly amazed by this wonder of nature.

after reading "techmusicgospel" blog on how Clinton and Buck react under pressure makes me reflect plenty on my own situation. great reading even if u rn't a close follower on the USA voting drama.

what cause MRSA? why r our patients coming down with this fearful virus/ bacteria? damn it... i heard that some pple are thinking that we, nurses, are spreading the MRSA to our patients! i am so angry! why would we want to do that?! *fume*

com'on those whoever, lets all do a nasal swab and get us all tested! are we carriers ourselves!? afterall we had been forced to care for MRSA patients whenever there aren't enough isolation bed! if we are affected, who will compensate us, on that? we tried to isolate but not enough bed. yet given our open ward situation with air freely flowing in and through the room, who can be spared from the MRSA-airborne/ droplet sort?

close the ward/ room and disinfect us all lar! MRSA blood, we nurse. MRSA sputum, we nurse and must do suctioning somemore! MRSA urine, we nurse. MRSA nasal, we nurse and must apply nasal antibotic cream in her nose somemore! how shitty is our job? fine... i am fine... we will do the necessary precaution... then... ask my MO to write in the report "to transfer to isolation ward" he talk crap with me. WASTE my time! started a small talk instead, saying "shouldn't they have a system that will isolate patient automatically?" i rolled my eyes and asked him again "do you want me to isolate the patient? if yes, then i will call the isolation ward for bed". WHY?!?!? WHY DON'T HE JUST GET IT!!!??? its not my 1st time experience such time-wasting talk with him!! OMG! how long more to the next batch of MOs and HOs?! *faint + foaming in the mouth*

why are you a nurse? do you enjoy it? what makes you go on despite all your grumbling? these are some of the many questions i face when i meet my friends. its really hard to explain to them but i had ever attempted.

my reply mainly include ......its a joy to be a nurse when:

1. my patient/ her family members actually remember my name and call me as if i am their family friend
2. i get a good feedback
3. the wound of a patient recovers and she walks out of the ward
4. i realised my prediction matches the dr's, makes me think-hey i am not so stupid leh
5. i am valued as a professional-i.e. when drs actually takes our suggestions and trust us (not order us like their medically-clinically trained maids!)
6. i get home, rest in bed and know that i had made a difference in someone's life today (be it being a comforting hand/ listening ear/ plainly a person that is involve in making her well)
7. (this is the most ridulous one!) i draw blood, i can see the flash back and feel the warmth of the blood that is gushing into the tubes. =P

so why do you do what you do? (be it a stay-home mom, baker, bikini-waxer or even an underwear sale person!)