RN Library, a library of nurses' practical tips

February 7, 2013 11:46 AM

100 Really, REALLY Useful Web Sites for Nurses | 100 Educational Twitter Feeds for Med Students | What Really Happens on a Hospital Night Shift? | 10 Hotel Health Traps You Should Really Beware Of |The ABCs of Vitamins and much more.
posted by nickyskye (16 comments total)

number 10 for the Hotel tips was:

Meth lab. A recent trend among meth lab cooks is renting a hotel room in which to cook their illegal drugs.
posted by mary8nne at 11:51 AM on February 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yeah, that hotel post was kind of alarmist. "These things could happen in hotels!" Without any way of gauging how often they happen, that list is worse than useless.
posted by asterix at 11:56 AM on February 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Came here to say exactly that, asterix. "While this is generally not a problem, it could be an issue for children and pregnant women." Isn't this true of, like, everything?
posted by Melismata at 12:09 PM on February 7, 2013

A friend of mine started Free Emergency Medicine Talks, which is aimed at med students & pros.
posted by knile at 12:23 PM on February 7, 2013 [2 favorites]

I ain't down with the super sanitary thing anyways. I don't wallow in filth or anything but constantly protecting oneself against "infection" sets one up for a doozy of a sickness at some point. To stimulate that immune system, eat your boogers!
posted by telstar at 12:25 PM on February 7, 2013 [4 favorites]

11. Bathtub. A recent trend among enterprising drunks is renting a hotel room in which to mix their illegal bathtub gin. The toxins that result from the mixing permeate everything in the room, including furniture, bedding, and the ventilation system. The only way to completely eliminate the risk of gin is to drink it. While staying one or two nights probably won't risk your health, staying for a week or two on a bender may bring unwanted risks, especially to young children and pregnant women.
posted by phunniemee at 12:28 PM on February 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

On the bright side, you probably won't have to worry about whatever filth is lurking in the drinking glasses.
posted by phunniemee at 12:29 PM on February 7, 2013

Mrs. Sourcequench has a biochem background, and is more-than-usually concerned about hotel-borne filth.

For the recent Feast of Mammon festivities, I got her a powerful UV flashlight and spray bottle of luminol.

This was probably not a very nice thing for me to do.

_{For those of you playing at home, luminol glows blue in the presence of trace amounts of blood, urine, feces... and horseradish. Yes, really.}
posted by sourcequench at 2:34 PM on February 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

That "What Really Happens on a Hospital Night Shift" infographic really doesn't portray what really happens on a hospital night shift. Really.
posted by klarck at 2:48 PM on February 7, 2013 [5 favorites]

"What May Happen At A Hospital Night Shift in AlarmTown, USA sponsored by the Corporation for Public Funding of Death Panels" was the original title but the editors at the University of Phoenix nixed it as not snappy enough.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:59 PM on February 7, 2013 [3 favorites]

telstar, nursing emphasizes aseptic and antiseptic techniques because we're around a whole bunch of infections every day and we don't want to play sick tag with anybody; most of the nurses I know aren't obsessive about constant cleanliness off the job, just kinda reasonable about generally encouraging people to wash themselves before/after contact situations.

Since I spend Too Much Time on Reddit, I thought I'd add some subreddits to the big giant nursing list:

/r/nursing for general stuff and silliness.
/r/resourcenurse for more academic and skills oriented stuff.
/r/studentnurse for, well, student nurses.
/r/medicine for general medical stuff.

The sidebars all have other things you can branch off to, but those are the biggies; some of those are mostly light posts, but it's really nice to have active online communities as a nurse or nursing student since it can be overwhelming and eat up all your RL time.
posted by byanyothername at 3:01 PM on February 7, 2013 [6 favorites]

I'll add the Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter to this list which I find really interesting reading at times.
posted by dog food sugar at 7:17 PM on February 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Worst Times To Go To The Hospital

"Oh honey, I don't really need to go to the hospital today... let's just wait until the Holidays are over."
posted by Autumn at 2:41 AM on February 8, 2013

You joke, but growing up my parents would always yell at us when we were getting too rowdy, saying that the emergency room would be packed, and if we're going to put each others eyes out or blow off a hand with a firecracker, at least wait until Tuesday when the rest of the doctors are back from vacation.
posted by phunniemee at 5:54 AM on February 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

A couple of things:

1) THIS IS NOT A FUCKING LIBRARY! It's a collection of blog posts, some of which HuffPo would be embarrassed to publish! Jesus Christ! Shit!

Sorry, that's just one of my big red buttons. But, FFS. A site that exists to hawk shitty online programs. Jesus.

2) Country Joe McDonald's Florence Nightingale Tribute? Uh...
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:50 AM on February 8, 2013

Halloween Jack, I realize from looking at your profile that you are a librarian. However, the definition of the word library is this: an organized collection of information resources made accessible to a defined community for reference or borrowing. It provides physical or digital access to material, and may be a physical building or room, or a virtual space, or both.

And this page of links at the RN Central site is just that, a virtual space providing an organized collection of information resources made accessible to a defined community for reference.
posted by nickyskye at 6:57 PM on February 8, 2013