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How to Visit a Sick Person in the Hospital
I’ve been meaning to write something like this for a long time. Even though I haven’t been working as a nurse for the past two years, I am still an RN, and have plenty experience in hospitals to write something didactic. Between 2001 and 2009 I had experience working in eleven different hospitals and over thirty different hospital units. My field was medical surgical nursing and my specialities were medicine, GI, Women’s Health, L&D, Mother/Baby, Ortho/Neuro, total joint, rehabilitation, cardiac/telemetry, renal/transplant, bariatrics, burns, trauma, and transplant. I did a little bit of everything… except OR, ICU, PACU, and ER. If you are visiting a sick person in the ICU or ER, parts of this primer won’t apply. How to visit a sick person. I feel like this […]
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The Best Pickup Line, EVER
This morning at the patchouli-smelling hippy food co-op, I found myself STARING at the bulk chocolate items. My eyes honed in on chocolate-dipped crystalized ginger, but were also cognizant of a toothsome man hovering behind me to my left. He said, “Do you like chocolate?” I said, “I haven’t had any in days, and I’m fixated.” Several moments later, he uttered, “Do you live in Ashland?” “No, Medford.” “I’m new to the area.” “Where from?” “The East Coast.” “Where on the East Coast?” “New Jersey.” “Where in New Jersey?” “Why, do you know the area?” “Sure, I’ve been through a couple times.” “Ok. Englewood.” “Close to the city. So why did you move here?” “Just to move. Isn’t it okay to just pick up and move?” “Yes, […]
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Breathing, Part I
You’ve probably noticed already that breathing and respiration have a lot to do with chemistry, and that because you’ve most likely taken it for granted, it is surprisingly complex, dynamic, and interesting… This website is an overview of what happens as you breathe, starting with some basic anatomy and working into chemical principles that govern every breath you take. Take a look at this picture. A “conducting zone,” or pipeline consisting of the nose, pharynx, larynx, trachea, and bronchi, and terminal bronchioles, allows ventilation (facultated by the diaphragm) and a “respiratory zone,” consisting of respiratory bronchioles, aleolar ducts, and alveoli, permits gas exchanges essential to respiration. Are they like empty balloons? Maybe you never even thought about it before… The lungs are very elastic, spongy, soft, organs […]
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