Nursing: It's not just a job, it's a lifestyle

Being a nurse, doctor, RT, or any bedside clinician means that you never really leave your job at the workplace. I am always asked random health questions from friends and neighbors, as well as doing the occasional dressing change for the diabetic old man across the street. I am the on-call assessor of allergic reactions, bug bites, and power tool wounds for the neighborhood. I also am approached for advice on hemorrhoids, vaginal elasticity, tooth abscesses, and the benefits of fish oil by strangers when they discover I am a nurse. This just comes with the territory, and usually I just try to lay low when in line at the grocery store.

My nurseyness is also displayed at the gym and the airport as I spot the AED placement around the facility. My ears perk up when the 88 year old grandma says she is dizzy during her AOA workout. I also travel with a resuscitation mask and many pairs of barrier gloves in my trunk. My first aid kit is ready for a mass shooting event, and I have many N95 masks in multiple sizes, in case of widespread swine flu outbreaks. I brought my kids home PAPR masks in case they wanted to be bee keepers for Halloween. These are some examples of how my work travels around with me.

My "nurse as a lifestyle" reality was further demonstrated last night when I was at a Super Bowl party, and the kids had a sign-up for a talent show. While the other adults put down: headstand, "olive trick", and yodel, I put down "CPR demo". This is in fact, a worthy talent that all people should know. And while I was thinking about rate and depth of chest compressions, I had many male volunteers who wanted to be the dummy, and not for the chest compressions. I had to explain that now the AHA recommends Hands Only CPR for the layman, and that Rescue Breaths are not indicated for the community - sorry guys. Granted, I had a couple beers in me and perhaps had poor judgement on appropriate "talents", I could really only think of this skill I could put down. We left before the talent show commenced, thank God, because I didn't really think of the whole up and down motion of chest pumping with a the mixture of drunk people and kids in this particular setting. Alas, I need to find another, more appropriate talent to come up with, maybe burping the alphabet?

So you can take the nurse out of the hospital, but you can't take the hospital out of the nurse; in fact most of the hospital is actually under my bathroom sink (I hope my manager doesn't come over).